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Well you can call them what you like, tree huggers, soap dodgers or hippies but they all amount to the same thing and that is a bunch of crazy people who would quite happily leave our country defenceless! I refer of course to CND and the Greens that are currently camped out at the Faslane naval base in Scotland.
They are there apparently to 'highlight the hypocrisy of the UK Government over weapons of mass destruction' but I think they've completely lost the plot this time. Yes it is may be true that taxpayer money has been spent in the search for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.
Also, it is true that a lot of taxpayer money is currently spent on protecting the country with the Trident nuclear submarines. But they are two completely different things!
On the one hand we have an Arab country ruled by a sick dictator and home to all manner of fanatics and terrorists and on the other hand we have the United Kingdom not exactly ruled by a sick dictator but still it would seem full of fanatics and the odd terrorist or two that we let in from time to time.
Personally I feel that we still need a nuclear deterrent and to abandon this key defence strategy at this time would be very foolish indeed. Whilst it is true that many of the worlds nuclear states are in the process of dismantling or reducing their nuclear weapons stockpiles a notable few are actually increasing them. It would of course be wonderful to live in a world where such destructive weapons didn't exist, but sadly that is not the kind of world we live in today and this scenario is unlikely to become true for many years to come.
There are an estimated 20,000 nuclear warheads scattered around the world today and of that number we have approximately 200 of them, a small price I think for a little bit of security.
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OK, if Britain needs Nuclear weapons, the big question is why?
Who are they protecting us from exactly? They whole homo-economic game of 'don't attack us you vodka slurping reds, cos we've got big missiles too!' argument really went out with the Cold War, when peace was apparently maintaned by each side having a balance of nuclear power.
So, who does Trident actually protect us from?
Rogue nations who support terrorism? Well, thats a load of pizzle cos we're quite happy to trade with them if theres some oil in it for us.
Terrorists themselves? Apparently theyre the great threat out there to our illusion of peace and democracy, though you have to admit a great big missile isnt much good against a suicide bomber or some biological release in a public area.
How about countries with WMD's? Well, sadly, the only people with WMD's are us and most of the members of Nato. (or the 5 permanent members of the UN security council if you prefer) OR anyone we sell them too!
The truth is that they defend our country from....no one!
Theyre totally useless.
Oh theres always alien invasion, but lets face it, there always is. But one look at our weather, our food and the general miserable apathy that pervades our nation and the little green men will wander of to somewhere more interesting.
The bottom line is, if we kept the useless things, lets be honest, IF the bombs started dropping, the actual ability to fire back wont really be of much use to you and me, cos we'll be dead anyways.
The ultimate turd on the apple crumble here is in the same week that the government mumbled on about spending £70 billion on upgrading the pointless system, the CBI stated that students should pay more for their education! So, tax payers money is fine spent on Trident, but not our children?
30/09/09 Lantern67
Who are they protecting us from exactly? They whole homo-economic game of 'don't attack us you vodka slurping reds, cos we've got big missiles too!' argument really went out with the Cold War, when peace was apparently maintaned by each side having a balance of nuclear power.
So, who does Trident actually protect us from?
Rogue nations who support terrorism? Well, thats a load of pizzle cos we're quite happy to trade with them if theres some oil in it for us.
Terrorists themselves? Apparently theyre the great threat out there to our illusion of peace and democracy, though you have to admit a great big missile isnt much good against a suicide bomber or some biological release in a public area.
How about countries with WMD's? Well, sadly, the only people with WMD's are us and most of the members of Nato. (or the 5 permanent members of the UN security council if you prefer) OR anyone we sell them too!
The truth is that they defend our country from....no one!
Theyre totally useless.
Oh theres always alien invasion, but lets face it, there always is. But one look at our weather, our food and the general miserable apathy that pervades our nation and the little green men will wander of to somewhere more interesting.
The bottom line is, if we kept the useless things, lets be honest, IF the bombs started dropping, the actual ability to fire back wont really be of much use to you and me, cos we'll be dead anyways.
The ultimate turd on the apple crumble here is in the same week that the government mumbled on about spending £70 billion on upgrading the pointless system, the CBI stated that students should pay more for their education! So, tax payers money is fine spent on Trident, but not our children?
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Walk around all day banning the bomb, walking on water, 'do-gooders'. The world us full of them. I once knew a man that went over to Africa to help the starving. He helped them alright, they ate him for supper.
It's very annoying that these blinkered deadbeats with a puny plan are right here in the UK. They are not British as far as I'm concerned.
Why don't we just collapse all our defence barriers? There are men and women out there fighting so you can sleep well at night and arise the next morn.
They have not one ounce of integrity in their worthless body.
These degenerate deadbeats are the ultimate insult to all those men and women that gave their lives for the land they walk upon. Young and old, fighting overseas to preserve their future. Such ingratitude.
They are an absolute disgrace to all those men listed upon the Menin Gate and the surrounding cemetries.
How do they sleep at night?
23/01/08 English And I Say What I Like
It's very annoying that these blinkered deadbeats with a puny plan are right here in the UK. They are not British as far as I'm concerned.
Why don't we just collapse all our defence barriers? There are men and women out there fighting so you can sleep well at night and arise the next morn.
They have not one ounce of integrity in their worthless body.
These degenerate deadbeats are the ultimate insult to all those men and women that gave their lives for the land they walk upon. Young and old, fighting overseas to preserve their future. Such ingratitude.
They are an absolute disgrace to all those men listed upon the Menin Gate and the surrounding cemetries.
How do they sleep at night?
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Twice in the last couple of months Faslane Peace Camp has been reported in the local newspaper for criminal activity. The first was a resident breaking into the bins at the Rosneath Co-op for out of date food, who upon being discovered hastely drove away ramming into a member of staffs car. The charge was "no licence, no insurance and pocessession of a dangerous weapon. More recently a peace camp resident tried to "hold up" a local post office for cash.
22/01/08 Jinty
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I have been passing the faslane for years and all you see it protest after protest are you people not going to understand that you,se cant get what you want the faslane is there and thats it you would think you would have learned you lesson by now ? no way those muppets continue to do so again and again you aint showing your children if there is any in that manky place you call home god what a mess it is anyways my point is back off let them do their job and you lot go home where ever you came from sad sad sad people
20/11/07 delbhoy from glasgow
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Russia is hardening its attitude to the world in general and Europe in particular. In view of the geographic jostling for Arctic and Antarctic oil reserves, I think we would be foolish NOT to keep an ultimate deterent.After Middle East oil reserves run out, the next flashpoint for strife will be at one of the Poles. Teddy Roosvelt had it about right, ' Speak softly, but carry a big stick' !
13/08/07 General
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I have to re-iterate that I am anti-nuclear. I have been as long as I can remember and thats back to an MoD village in the 70's when it was highly unpopular. I have only ever voted anti-nuclear, never worked at the base . My standard of life has never been orientated by money, which is just as well because outside of the MoD there was none to be made. I was once an unemployed hairdresser but still never considered the base. We were Thatcher's children, born to be trained for no jobs and by the time the jobs arrived so out of date we were unemployable. For many years I have scratrched a living from shop jobs and bar jobs but I've worked hard and
I am still really ok. The thing is, how do your actions sit on your shoulders. Life is hard, it can be tough, can you be real. p.s. I hated hairdressing
29/07/07 JANET CASSIE - ROSNRATH
I am still really ok. The thing is, how do your actions sit on your shoulders. Life is hard, it can be tough, can you be real. p.s. I hated hairdressing
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agree with what people on here are saying bloody tree huggers what would they say if we were attacked with nukes and we didnt have any would they start protesting to have nukes!!!!lol
17/07/07 atomicboi
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Could the "tree huggers" "great unwashed", whatever you want to call them, please explain why after years and years of protest, they have achieved.............well, absolutely nothing!
12/06/07 Steve - Rosneath
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I don't think my views are in the least contradictory. Has the peace campaign become something akin to a dictatorship where only the official approved views are acceptable. I do not think any cause warrants suffering and distress to vulnerable people. I think that the blockade is damaging and undermines it's purpose. I am not a NIMBY as you have implied but I think there are a few people in the peace movement who have become so focused on their campaign that they have lost sight of a few basics like respect and tolerance. I may sound dramatic and hysterical but I don't think that frail elderly people being left in bed for hours in their own urine because carers can't get past a blockade is an acceptable price for any community to pay. That is one of our hundreds of reasons why I like most others in this community while not against the right to protest want to see an end to the blockade on the A814. As I mentioned in my last post we have suggest RNAD Coulport as a more fitting alternative. It is a stone's throw from Faslane. It is where the weapons are stored, maintained and loaded. The trident submarines do not sail into Faslane until they have been unloaded at Coulport. The aim of the blockade is to disrupt the preparations for mass murder - well that's where it is done - not at Faslane. The disruption at Faslane is mainly to the local community and the continuation of the blockade at Faslane is only undermining it's credibility. Perhaps it would get bigger and better press if the blockade was halted or relocated because the peace movement put peoples' welfare as a priority. At the moment it appears as though basic freedoms and welfare issues can suffer because they are considered just an unfortunate side effect of the campaign.
08/05/07 Janet - Rosneath
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Thanks Janet - I have the best whinge!! No need to be so dramatic, I'd hardly call you a hostage. Anyway, I could provide a hundred political reasons towards the opposition of Trident (as my last comment wasn't political enough), however many of them have already been posted. I find your view rather contradictory as you say your anti-nuclear, but it seems you only support the campaign as long as its not happening at your door. I think you should be proud to live in a community where people are actively campaigning against nuclear weapons. I think your energies are wasted by targeting the protesters and making them the problem intead of what really is. You should be out there along with the protesters and maybe that way, if you all interacted with each other there would be less ill feeling, as opposed to asking them to move elsewhere.
08/05/07 Fiona
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P.S. Just had to add that Fiona's "poor little old us, no-one understands and you are all so bad to say say nasty things" whinge was the best I've heard yet. Really compelling political comment, I've change my mind we deserve to be held hostage. I am so ashamed I will immediately find a road to lie on, where do you live, that would do.
18/04/07 Janet Cassie - Rosneath
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This is always what our small local community is told " we have sympathy with the local but will not stop". Before I get the usual lecture about the bigger picture and told all about the evils of the nuclear policy let me explain something. Faslane base is the home of the Trident fleet, however, the weapons are at RNAD Coulport. The protesters have been asked by the local community if they would consider moving the blockade there instead. Now get out your map and you will see that coulport is at the end of the road on the Rosneath Peninsula. Faslane is not the only option but because of the disruption caused to the locals it is more news-worthy. At coulport only the MOD would be affected and ordinary people may actually support it. As it stands lives ARE being put in danger. Without a blockade the local residents already have at least half an hour to wait for an ambulance. Paying lip service to consideration just doesn't cut it. For the blockading groups it is only a couple of days of their lives, for us it's almost every day. Before anyone decides I am biased, I do NOT work at the base and I have always been anti-nuclear but my family deserves not to be held as political hostages because of an accident of birth and geography. We lived here before nuclear technology was invented.
16/04/07 Janet Cassie - Rosneath
1
Interesting to read these comments, as some of us outside Scotland sometimes think there is massive opposition to Trident there (based on the majority of MSPs opposed to it). I've read that some protesters have said they're sorry that the disruption in the local area is necessary. But for most of these people, delaying a school bus occasionally is weighed against the chance of millions of schoolchildren having their faces burned off, charred corpses, lands polluted with carginogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic radiation for centuries, and the possible extinction of homo sapiens. Now, the former may seem immediate, and the latter thankfully remote, but it is an undeniable risk, and it's no coincidence that many of the "tree-hugger" protesters tend to have spent time imagining what the politics really means for people in the future. They can't collapse into complacency, and I'm glad they don't.
Of course we need Trident like a hole in the head. It's not necessary to our economic position: of the G7 nations, only 3 have weapons of mass destruction (US, France, UK). What does the original griper think they are useful for in this post-Cold-War world? Are they any use against suicidal terrorists with suitcase bombs? Does 'mutually assured destruction' work against ideologues like Bin Laden who want to provoke conflict? How does having them prevent WMD proliferating? The less plutonium in the world, the less there is to be stolen. I suspect that depending on US WMD means that all UK foreign policy and defence decisions also really depend on the US, including the decision to renew the missile. Previous defence secretaries including Michael Prtillo and Malcolm Rifkind have spoken against retaining Trident.
16/04/07 Cedders
Of course we need Trident like a hole in the head. It's not necessary to our economic position: of the G7 nations, only 3 have weapons of mass destruction (US, France, UK). What does the original griper think they are useful for in this post-Cold-War world? Are they any use against suicidal terrorists with suitcase bombs? Does 'mutually assured destruction' work against ideologues like Bin Laden who want to provoke conflict? How does having them prevent WMD proliferating? The less plutonium in the world, the less there is to be stolen. I suspect that depending on US WMD means that all UK foreign policy and defence decisions also really depend on the US, including the decision to renew the missile. Previous defence secretaries including Michael Prtillo and Malcolm Rifkind have spoken against retaining Trident.
-2
Why can't you see that its not the protesters you should be aiming your anger at? If the nuclear base did not exist then they wouldn't need to be there in the first place. Why don't the local people join in with the protesters and fight against the real problem; instead of targeting the protesters, target the people causing it?
The protesters just can't win, they're out there trying to make a difference and then get moaned at by you lot who refuse to see the bigger picture. so what if there is a little disruption along the way!
16/04/07 Fiona
The protesters just can't win, they're out there trying to make a difference and then get moaned at by you lot who refuse to see the bigger picture. so what if there is a little disruption along the way!
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DSG